Grin'n from ear to ear.....

[66KingFisher]

As you know I returned from a vacation to Florida on monday to find that my fishin buddy Ron, had sold the classic old fishing boat we'd been fishin out of for the past 2.5 years. I was kinda bummed, but I knew that old boat didn't really suit our needs, and we had talked several times about getting something different....I like to bass fish and Ron prefers crappie and panfish, but we both just like to fish. Monday night he told me to "start looking" for a replacement rig, and Wednesday night i'd told him about the stuff i'd found on Craigs list and a few other classified websites.....By saturday night he'd reviewed all the ads, and decided he didn't want to keep shopping or mess with someone else's 20+ year old boat and motor, and he called me today and said "come go look at a boat with me".....So the next thing I know we'd drove 70 miles to a marina in Hot Springs, and after a bit of comparing and a couple of test drives in lake Hamilton, we left for home, towing a new Tracker Pro16 bassboat.....lol Its just too bad it was gettin dark by the time we left or we'd of launched in lake Ouachita for a bit.

It certainly wasn't the biggest fanciest rig they sell, but it'll do everything Ron and I want, at a price that didn't break the bank. We ended up with the four stroke Mercury 30hp, which was the max the hull was rated for,and while its not gonna set any speed records it will get us across the lake, and better yet "Back" to the boat ramp....hahaha....Which was always the question in the back of our minds when using the Evinrude that was almost as old as we are.....That usually kept us from venturing too far from the ramp...lol....That and we had to troll back when the motor didn't start a couple of times. As a bonus, Mercury was running a special till the end of the month, and the motor came with a 5yr warranty instead of 3, so that was cool.

While I don't actually own the boat, i'm still excited about it....Ron is my best friend and he's made it perfectly clear that its as much mine as his and, I have 100% access to it anytime I want, so needless to say, i'm looking forward to fishin this year.....I won't know how to act fishin from a bassboat again....hahaha....its been along time.

[nofearengineer]

Man....that's great to hear. I too have a buddy that fishes out of my rig, and has a standing invitation. I can relate to your buddy. I just like to have the great company as well.

[bamabassman]

FANTASTIC TO HEAR PAL! Now oyu know you gotta post some pics of ya'lls madien voage and the fish ya catch.

[zooker]

sweet...wetting is the important thing...



zooker

[MrPhotographer06]

Anthony wants to try and finance one of those new ones they advertise on tv for 12K or whatever.. Sounds nice as long as i get to fish in it

Congrats on your new boat. Let us know how the fishing is.

[bcklash]

That's awesome 66.

If his name is Ron he has to be a good guy.

[WaffleJaw]

66 that is exciting!!...now go tear em up.

[Bassboss]

Sweet man! Sounds awesome! Looked at googles Images and it looks like a decent boat!

[carolina-rig-01]

That is great news 66, and I know how you have been due for some good news for a while now. Congragulations and I wish you guys the best of luck with the new boat.

[66KingFisher]

Here's a couple of photos of the Pro16 taken from Trackers website.....It's their entry level bassboat package. Ron and I both would've rather had the next level up that they offered(ProTeam 170TX), but the extra 3-4 thousand bucks, and the fact that the 50hp 2 stroke motor on it came with a one year warranty, while the 30hp 4 stroke motor on the boat we purchased came with a 5 year warranty. Its not a bad little package and with payments under $150 its hard to beat.

Considering most of the used Tracker boats i'd seen online were 20+ years old and the asking prices were roughly half of what a new Tracker was sellin for it was easy to understand why Ron decided to go ahead and buy new.....We are both tickled to death and anxious to use it....lol. We already need to spend some money and get a boat cover and a few small items we want to add, and we ain't even put it in the water yet....hahaha. I'll be sure to snap a few photos of our first outing.